Manchester United grabbed a late equaliser against Fulham to save their blushes in a 1-1 draw.
Match
In reality, it was another poor performance and disappointing result in what has been a major let-down of a season so far.
United looked flat throughout and ran significantly less than their opponents, which has been a major issue so far this season.
Manager Michael Carrick defended his players after the match and claimed they were unlucky, but pundit Gary Neville took another view.
Gary Neville opinion
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Neville claimed that his former teammate must learn to criticise his own players after what he witnessed at Craven Cottage.
The pundit argued, “I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that. Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team’s energy. Michael has got to stop defending them. I get why he’s defending them; he’s loyal, he wants his players to work for him, and obviously there’s a long way to go in the season.”
Describing the horror performance in greater detail, he said, “both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. I’ve never seen a United team walk around as much as that. No alertness, no aliveness. No ‘on your toes’. You should always be on your toes.”
Neville also complained that the Red Devils were constantly walking out of possession and allowed Fulham large swathes of the ball with little pressure.
The former England international also insisted that the international break has come at the right time for United, as they can get their heads together to try and solve these glaring issues.
He explained, “very rarely do I say a team doesn’t work hard or is lacking in effort. That’s the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players. I’m always very careful to say that, but in those first 15 minutes of that second half, Man Utd and generally for the first 60 minutes, were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.”
Neville claimed he was sure that Carrick would be saying different things to his players privately than publicly, but he also stated that if things don’t change soon, “he will find himself in a lot of trouble.”
The former United captain also added that the personnel in Carrick’s team do not really let him defend.
He claimed that Bryan Mbeumo and Marcus Rashford stay too high and wide, while Youri Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo are too one-paced.
Finally, he added that Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes float around too much and that “but there is going to have to be a reset from the point of view of defensive structure because there are far too many of them walking on the pitch.”
Featured image by Carl Recine via Getty Images
